Bothan Spies have reported back to us again about the political intrigue in Bestine...

*** Status report: Tatooine, Bestine ***

Brief History of the Area

It was during the Old Republic that the first colony ships made their way to Tatooine... then simply viewed as the first planet in the tri-planetary system J11.9. The colonists expanded, founding Fort Tusken in the Jundland Wastes far to the north. Both Bestine and Fort Tusken got down to the serious business of ore mining and learned the delicate art of moisture farming - the art of coaxing moisture from the atmosphere for growing crops. The Fort survived until a group of Sand People attacked it. It was abandoned afterwards, and the Sand People were given the nickname of Tusken Raiders because of the attack.

Current Status

Bestine of current day is a stately gem of Imperial politics. Before the arrival of the Empire, Bestine was primarily a farming and mining community, but it has since become the seat of Imperial power on Tatooine. As a result, Bestine is now the most cosmopolitan and cultured Tatooine settlement.

Due largely to the influx of Imperial personnel and their credits, Bestine is flourishing while other Tatooine cities struggle. Bestine has transformed from a modest agrarian township into a thriving economic hub. While Mos Eisley is a magnet for smugglers and their ilk, Bestine attracts honest traders and merchants interested in doing legitimate business. Bestine is also the safest of all the Tatooine cities. Imperial Stormtroopers patrol the streets protecting the local populace from common thugs as well as from Tusken Raiders. Bestine could be considered the capital of Tatooine, at least by Imperial standards.

Luke Skywalker's home planet hasn't been the same since the Death Star was destroyed by the Rebellion. Recently, a political struggle in Bestine has arisen between a powerful merchant and an ambitious Imperial officer. Two young men struggling to climb the ladder of power while maintaining a fragile balance between the long established Bestine merchants and the Imperial garrison. The balance is shrouded by an important trade agreement between their superiors, so neither politician wants to upset their superiors, the local economy or the attitudes of the Empire, so both of the ambitious young men are working to maintain their positions under Governor Tour Aryon in the hopes of influencing their causes. Their goals are simple: influence the great many space travelers who pass through Bestine in hopes of being elected and thus getting in the good graces of Governor Aryon.

The Officer of Defense, Victor Visalis, and the Director of Commerce, Sean Trenwell, are vying for the same position which works closely and exclusively with the governor of Bestine. Depending on which politician wins the vote and becomes the new role in aiding the governor, the city of Bestine will change.

Citizens of the galaxy can help influence Bestine by speaking with the governor and voting on their candidate. Depending on which of the two rivals are in power, their influence can be seen throughout Bestine. Travelers can get involved with voting process by having a conversation with Governor Tour Aryon in the Tatooine Capitol building (-1137, -3563).

Once travelers and galactic citizens choose to get involved in the big vote, they should choose who they prefer to be in power: Officer of Defense Victor Visalis, or Director of Commerce Sean Trenwell. In order to cast a successful vote, the governor tells the citizen (player) to pick a candidate, talk to him and once the player is ready to vote, find evidence as to why the particular candidate would be a good choice. However, each citizen must have a reason for voting, or not voting, for a candidate. This is accomplished by visiting either of the candidates and helping them in their cause.

Each candidate has his own quest and his own rewards. The quests are to gather positive evidence that demonstrate why either candidate would do a better job as the governor's right hand man. Simply take the quest, find the evidence of good deeds and turn it in to the governor in the hopes of getting enough evidence to cause the governor to select your chosen candidate. Players can turn in one piece of evidence for each election. Each candidate is in power for two full months. Each election is one month. At the end of the election month, the governor will count up the pieces of evidence turned in by the players and select her new aide.

This evidence can be found by doing various quests provided by the new NPCs throughout Bestine. Once the evidence has been found and presented to the governor, she will register the vote and tally the total number of votes for each candidate at the end of two months, the governor will tally the votes and announce the winner.

Each election takes a month and the winning politician will reign for two months. Once the politician takes their position to help the Governor, the face of Bestine will change.

If a citizen later decides to abandon his/her current candidate's campaign, he/she may speak to the opposing candidate. The opposing candidates will then instruct them on how to find a negative piece of evidence to turn in as a vote for the other candidate.

For example, Sally the Rodian joins Victor's campaign, but decides, since she's a crafter, it would benefit her more to join Sean's campaign instead. Sally can speak with Sean about her misfortune. Sean will tell her to find him a piece of evidence that would provide a negative impact to Victor's campaign. Presenting that negative evidence, once found, to Sean will remove Sally from Victor's campaign and allow her to join Sean's. Jumping from one campaign to another doesn't have an impact to the quest overall since citizen's are rewarded for completing quests and not simply joining the quest.

The Officer of Defense, Victor Visalis

Victor is located in the Tatooine Capitol Building toward the front on the right hand side as you enter the building. Walk in, hang a right and head into his office at -1132, -3585. Speak to him and he will give you instructions on how to collect the evidence that will put him into office. Not only do the candidates explain all of this via conversation (text), but also, for joining the campaign, the player will receive a campaign disk explaining the process.

Clues

Pro Candidate

There is a rumor that Victor went to great measures to help a human child be rescued from the Tusken Raiders. Seek out testimony from a woman in the slums of Bestine.

Victor has helped employ the homeless beings of Bestine and players should search for his job registry. Records are usually kept in the Capitol.

Word on the street says that Victor donated a great deal of credits to a local orphanage. Seek the receipt for proof of his good deeds. The orphanage's director who resides by the hospital in Bestine should know of such things.

Against Candidate

For those that want to take Victor down, a good place to start would be to find his journal, and that shouldn't be far from him.

Smugglers in the area rumor that Victor has given bribes to the Hutts to overlook some illegal activities. Any document with Victor's seal would surely condemn him. Hutt informants in the local cantina usually traffic in such information.

Local police are embroiled in an investigation of murdered police officers that might have been rebel spies. If citizens were able to produce a "Hit List", it would surely be incriminating.

If Victor wins the election

If Victor wins the election, citizens will have had an effect on the local area by noticing that there will be fewer merchants in the market since they won't have Sean's protection and more noticeably, there will be more Imperial Troopers patrolling Bestine. When there are more patrolling troopers, the Tusken Raiders will not be so brave and will raid the city much less often.

When Victor wins the Bestine election, he, like Sean Trenwell, has a pet project. His quest revolves around his burning desire to strike at the Tusken Raiders who plague Bestine. Victor has sent some of Bestine's toughest soldiers to the Tusken Fortress, but they never returned and he wants to know what has become of them.

Director of Commerce, Sean Trenwell

Sean's office is located on the left side of the main hall in the back (-1199, -3584). Again, have a conversation (using the radial menu) to speak with him and he will tell you how to help gain evidence for his cause. Sean also gives involved citizens a campaign disk explaining the process.

If Sean wins the election

When Sean is in power, the upside is the merchants will thrive and there will be more merchants in the marketplace. Also, Sean has a passion for history and supports it by subsidizing his own personal desire to find out about his personal ties to the local history. Historians uncovered what they think may have been the Red-Sin Talon, the vessel which took the crew to Tatooine. During this time, travelers can go on Sean's quest to satisfy his curiosity regarding a possible ancestor who was part of the crew that founded Bestine. Due to time constraints brought on by the election, Sean will send you to the site to uncover any information regarding the ship.

The downside to Sean's victory is that Victor spites him by moving Imperial troops away from town, allowing Tusken Raiders to attack the city, making Sean look bad in front of the Governor. Tuskens will attack the city almost two weeks at a time when this happens.

Clues

Pro Candidate Sean has a love of Art and donated a great deal of credits to the local museum. Testimony from the Curator would surely help Sean's cause.

Helping to develop the marketplace, Sean supplied the local Jawas with money to build the marketplace. There is a merchant in the market place who often deals with this Jawa named Orqiti. She might know where an evidence disk might be.

Also working to help Bestine's homeless problem, Sean hired a housemaid to care for his home. Testimony from her would surely get Sean in the good graces of Tour. She is usually at Sean's house near the capitol, across from the museum.

Against Candidate

It has been rumored that Sean sometimes has to pay for his expensive art and history habits by embezzling from the official commerce accounts. The accountant's log book would definitely reveal such things and surely isn't far at all.

Hutts are of course involved in everything and since they know of Sean's shadowy commerce dealings, they have been blackmailing him. If someone were to find the terminal disk as proof of his unofficial credit appropriations from Bestine's Treasury, it would surely be bad evidence that would make Sean look bad.

Victor has long accused Sean of cheating on his political exams in the past. Sean has been able to shrug it off, but proof of such cheating would be a scandal he could not avoid. The first place to look would be his teacher inside the Commerce Guild.